Woodworking blog entries tagged with 'arts and crafts'

I have recently, for the most part, usually (!), been keeping busy with running my household, driving kids in circles for extra-curricular activities, fiber crafts (crochet, spinning) and trying to learn how to sew in order to create garb for our new SCA hobby, but I have also managed to find a little time to doodle with some wood carving.
This is my current work in process. I had this stick, some unidentified hardwood. I had no plan, but it is turning out to a piece resembling native Amer...

I trekked to the local lumber mill this morning, and picked through their pile of 5/4 cherry looking for a couple more boards for the top. I also took the rest of the top boards since my planer sled can only handle 4’. They jointed one face and rough planed them all for $8. I have them stickered and weighed down in the basement for a day or two to let them settle a bit.
I also picked up a piece of 5/4 soft maple to start the drawer boxes. I’ve never worked with soft mapl...

The front apron and drawer fronts we the next thing to tackle. The front apron is pretty straight forward, but it has four walnut accent pieces inset in it. The walnut pieces are faceted to mirror the through tenons. Also there a four slots routed on the back of it to hold the drawer supports.
The drawers were a straight forward as well. I just needed to be careful since I am using one piece so the grain matches from one drawer to the next. It took me two tries on the drawer fronts, b...

Here is a neat little Christmas project. I built mine out of 1/4” baltic birch plywood and a piece of 1/4” oak. I did a video on the build and you can view it on You Tube, here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtBROCtyd-U
Thanks for watching and I hope you enjoy the video and the build.
Paul / paulsmessyworkshop

It is with a doubt one of greatest satisfaction of wood working the finished project. For me that is the best part. Okay actually the best part is the process to get to that point. I enjoy the sanding of the wood, whether I am sanding that piece by hand or a palm sander, taking that piece to smooth as possibly can be done, then applying the stain whether i am brushing it on or wiping, though i prefer the wipe on method. Then putting on the shellac usually three coats, then adding another coup...

The second part of the leg glue up is pretty complicated. Luckily, my Father In-Law was in town for the holidays and he gave me a hand getting all the parts in place.
For the through tenons, I used a small amount of glue on the faces of the tenons to minimize squeeze out. Once the legs and “window frame” pieces were all clamped up, I taped off around the mortises. I then forced glue into the top and bottom of the mortise before driving the walnut wedges in place. Removi...

I was in need of a little shelf to hold an alarm clock in my guest room. I decided to make one out of an old book. The difference between this and other floating books that are out there is that this one has a hidden compartment built inside! I’ve included the build video if you’re interested in making one yourself.
View on YouTube

I’ve got a few days off for the holidays, and i’ve been able to get a little more work done on my desk project. I’ve been trying to figure out what type and color wood I want for the inlays and accent pieces. After talking with the guys at the local woodcraft, I picked up some trans tint 0 black dye, a chunk of walnut and some walnut veneers. I played around with these (and after dying my hand black, be careful with this stuff), but did not like the pitch black look. A f...

I’m making a new fence for my table saw in the Biesemeyer style to improve the performance of my machine.If you have seen my previous project on how to improve a crappy table saw i already have a shop made fence on it butI’ve never been a hundred percent happy with the fence stop as its not something my fellow woodworker could replicate because it requires a specific part,so my new fence has a home made stop.

Part of every workshop success is being organized and having templates on hand to trace and cut out, my shop is no different, for the longest time I kept my templates stuffed in a box, as of lately I have been getting request for shelves, rather than dig out these templates I created the “I SEE IT BOARD” this way a person can see the options that are available, it will be easier for me as well because I will be able to grab what I need and when I am done I can easily put it back ...